High on the Himalayas

The early-morning light filtered through the walls of my yellow tent, creating an aura of calmness. Snuggled deep in my sleeping bag, my breath misty above my face, I listened to the muffled sounds of activity: the hum of chugging stoves, a clink of cups, a murmur of soft voices and then a familiar voice announcing, "Bed tea, bed tea." Pushing a hand out of my bag, I opened the tent door zipper enough to see Sam's round, smiling, friendly face amid large pots of hot water and hot milk and a supply of tin cups and tea bags. It's a rare pleasure to be brought tea in the morning and a delight to peek out of your tent and see the sun rising over the towering Himalayas.

My wife and I and our three teenage children were on an eight-day trekking trip in the Himalayas. We were travelling with some friends and had organized our trek before we left Ottawa. From Kathmandu, we flew with Yeti Airlines early one morning to Lukla Airport, gateway to Everest. Our modest objectives were to hike to Namche Bazar, see Mount Everest and hike on to Thami Monastery at 4,000 metres, before trekking back the way we had come. The Nepalese Expedition company with whom we booked our trip created a special itinerary for us, helping us determine how far we could safely walk in a day and guiding us on the best places to stay.

Lukla Airport, developed by Sir Edmund Hillary at 2,840 metres, is carved out of the side of the mountain. There is no room for error as the pilots navigate this tiny airstrip in their de Havilland Twin Otters. At one end of the short runway is a massive stone buttress, at the other end, as it slopes away down the hill at an alarming rate, is nothing. It's one of those "grip the sides of your seat, pray to your gods and hold your breath" moments.

We were met at Lukla by our Sherpa party, who prepared a breakfast of cereal, fresh omelettes and toast for us before we set off for our first day's trek. Our group of 13 hikers had decided to employ a full party of Sherpas to guide us and this included our sirdar (head Sherpa), two cooks, seven cook assistants, five assistant guides, four porters, 10 zopkyos (a cross between a yak and a cow) and two zopkyo herders.

We made a formidable group as we headed off.

It's difficult to know how altitude will affect you until you get there, but our concerns over our teenagers' health quickly dissipated as the 13-year-old charged off like an electrified yak, running back and forth, taking it all in.

The Sherpas know the dangers of altitude sickness for people who are not fully acclimatized, so the trek to Namche Bazar is made over two days. The first night is usually spent at Phakding, which is at a lower altitude than Lukla, and the second day is the long slog up to Namche Bazar.

The trail to Phakding is a well-worn path that meanders along the milky-white, ice-cold Dudh Koshi River, crossing it via high suspension bridges. Our youngest decided to test the bridges by jumping up and down before several grim-faced adults suggested otherwise.

There are no paved roads, automobiles, trains or buses here; everyone walks and everything is carried. The trail takes you through small villages where people eke out a simple living from the land or by providing services to the visitors. Tea shops offer respite to travellers who have decided to trek alone or with just a guide. Terraced fields around the villages sit waiting for the warmth of spring. Snot-nosed, dirt-faced infants play in doorways; giggling uniformed school girls skip to and from school; robed monks text message as they glide past; porters carrying immense loads on their backs trudge by; all greeting us with the traditional greeting of Namaste.

By the time we arrived at Phakding, the tents had been set up and the hot tea was ready and waiting. We enjoyed omelettes, fresh pancakes, pizza, hot bread, spicy soups, curried vegetables, tinned fish and meat, cookies and fresh fruit. Even the children mostly enjoyed their meals.

Our second day was our hardest. It took us to Namche Bazar, at 3,440 metres. The last few hours seemed to be an endless ascent. Any fatigue you felt as you carried your paltry backpack with a bottle of water and some sun block was quickly shamed as you were overtaken by porters carrying a week's worth of groceries.

We arrived in Namche Bazar as snow was falling, casting a silent blessing on the town. With its tiers of pretty blue-roofed buildings, it sits in a cleft at the top of the mountain. It's famous for its market where you can buy anything from carrots and bottled water to new sneakers and whisky. And almost everything in Namche Bazar, apart from the quarried stone, has been carried there on the back of a porter or a zopkyo. It's quite astonishing. The children went off to explore while Mum and Dad collapsed.

The next day was a "rest day" and, after a visit to the market, we climbed the final few metres to the top of a hill from where we could see the highest point on the planet -- Mount Everest. It's a stunning sight as you watch what looks like a plume of cloud blowing off the top of the mountain. It was hard to imagine that, as high as we were, Everest is almost three times higher. My daughter did cartwheels and we took photos of each other.

In the background, the Nepali army watched us disinterestedly from their outpost -- a silent, ominous footnote to the possibility of troubled times ahead for this small country sandwiched between the might of China and the mass of India.

We had attempted to prepare for our hike by climbing stairs in a local apartment block two or three times a week, but nothing can prepare you for the regal magnificence of the Himalayas. As you gaze up in awe at the towering mountains, you turn a corner of the trail to realize that the hills you just saw are dwarfed by the next range that seem to pierce Earth's atmosphere and inscribe their initials in the heavens.

The next day, we headed off to Thami at 3,800 metres, mistakenly thinking it was a straightforward walk. The group straggled as the altitude took its toll and it was all we could do to collapse into our tents on arrival. After refreshments, the children taught the Sherpas blackjack, although luckily they did not play for Nepalese rupees, otherwise the children would have left considerably poorer. The next day we ambled up to 4,000 metres to see the monastery -- a quiet, rather uninspiring building at which we were encouraged to buy postcards. In the late afternoon, we found a soccer ball, gathered all the Sherpas, and played a game of breathless soccer in the schoolyard. My daughter, the only girl on the field, took no prisoners.

The Sherpas are a remarkable group of people. Unfailingly friendly, kind and respectful, they were genuinely keen to ensure everyone's safety, well-being and enjoyment. Unlike in the West, where most of us learn the importance of providing good service in order to generate future business, the Sherpas just seem to want to please you.

From Thami, we started our descent and three days later we found ourselves, once again, walking through the rough-stoned, dusty streets of Lukla, dodging the cows and stray dogs and being greeted with Namaste by the smiling shopkeepers. We were exhausted, unkempt and unshaven, but we walked with a real sense of accomplishment. We passed new parties of trekkers setting off with freshly laundered faces, eyes wide open at the sights and we felt we'd been gone for a hundred years.

We had enjoyed eight days of the most exhilarating trekking you can imagine, high on the foothills of the Himalayas. We had shared paths with zopkyos and porters, played soccer and cards with our guides and Sherpas, hiked for hours in the sun and the dust and, above it all, we had seen Sagamartha -- Mount Everest -- towering over the world.

For our final meal, the cooks had somehow baked a cake for us with an inscription that read "See you again." Already our two eldest teenagers have announced their intention to return and trek to Everest base camp. For the rest of us, it may take a little longer to replenish our energy, but part of our spirit will now forever be in the Himalayas in Nepal.

Tim Redpath is an Ottawa writer who handled communications for a 2005 Everest expedition on which Sean Egan, an Ottawa University professor, died. Redpath's trip to Nepal, in March 2008, was timed to attend the opening of a new Child Haven school in Kathmandu; the school was partly funded by money raised in Ottawa in Sean Egan's name.

IF YOU GO ...

When to go: Spring and fall are the two seasons for hiking in the Himalayas.

How to get there: To get to Kathmandu, you can fly from Ottawa via London and Bahrain (the total trup takes about 36 hours). To go on the Everest hiking trail, you fly from Kathmandu to Lukla (which takes about 40 minutes).

Trekking: There are quite a few trekking organizations; we booked through High Altitude Dreams (www.highaltitudedreams.com), a company that was extremely helpful and handled absolutely everything for us, from flights to meals to accommodation to park fees. You can go on your own and stay at tea houses (simple rooms that provide a bed and meals) along the way, but it's recommended that you travel at least with one guide who can tell you about the Himalayas and Nepal.

Cost: Prices for an organized trek start at about $50 per person per day, plus $200 for the airfare, roundtrip from Kathmandu to Lukla. Prices can be negotiated depending on what you want to include . Many of the trekking companies will organize your entire trip to Nepal, including picking you up at Kathmandu airport. We included day trips in Kathmandu, accommodation at a guest house in Kathmandu and taxi rides over two weeks; our trip worked out to about $75 per person per day.

Recommendations:

- Plan where you want to trek before you leave home. Talk with trekking organizations to get their recommendations.

- Decide what services you want -- Sherpas, porters, guides or cooks and whether you want to camp or stay in tea houses. You can do it very cheaply by hiking on your own, but don't forget that you are supporting the local Nepalese economy by employing porters and cooks.

- Don't overdo it. You will be at high altitudes, so build in time to recover from the hiking, to enjoy the view and to take some photographs.